About this blog

My name is Bill Hirt and I'm a candidate to be a Representative from the 48th district in the Washington State legislature. My candidacy stems from concern the legislature is not properly overseeing the WSDOT and Sound Transit East Link light rail program. I believe East Link will be a disaster for the entire eastside. ST will spend 5-6 billion on a transportation project that will increase, not decrease cross-lake congestion, violates federal environmental laws, devastates a beautiful part of residential Bellevue, creates havoc in Bellevue's central business district, and does absolutely nothing to alleviate congestion on 1-90 and 405. The only winners with East Link are the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington and their labor unions.

This blog is an attempt to get more public awareness of these concerns. Many of the articles are from 3 years of failed efforts to persuade the Bellevue City Council, King County Council, east side legislators, media, and other organizations to stop this debacle. I have no illusions about being elected. My hope is voters from throughout the east side will read of my candidacy and visit this Web site. If they don't find them persuasive I know at least I tried.

Friday, February 13, 2015

ST's South Bellevue P&R Replacement Debacle

The previous post was presented to
the Bellevue City Council at their 2/09/15 meeting.It detailed my concerns that Sound Transit mendacity, regarding the East Link impact on the Mercer Slough Natural Park, made a
mockery of the entire environmental review process and their implementation of
light rail on I-90 will result in total gridlock for cross lake commuters.As the post mentions, both the BCC and ST simply ignored my
concerns in the video of the proceedings I viewed the next day.

Once they did get beyond all the platitudes
about the “out reach efforts” the video finally hit on an item that should be of
concern to any cross-lake commuter.While they’re not closing the I-90 center roadway until 2017, they plan
to close the South Bellevue P&R next March.The P&R has nominally 519 spaces but commuters use
parking around the periphery for an additional 200 spaces, all of which are
full by 7:30 AM.During the peak
commute an ST550 bus stops to pick up riders every 5 minutes.The P&R also provides access to
ST555, ST556 and ST560. It, along
with the East Gate P&R provide the major access to transit for I-90
corridor commuters; the ST550 route having more riders than any other ST route.

One would have thought ST would have
well developed plans for accommodating the thousands of commuters when they
close the P&R in 13 months. I
can only suggest anyone who uses these routes for their commute view the video
to see the status of ST plans to accommodate them.(It starts at 03:04 on the video where it appears the vast
majority of the audience has left.) They start out by explaining “why we need
to a replacement parking strategy" and the goals and their “strategy” to
“maximize existing park & rides”.

Their preferred alternative “existing
P&R” was for I-90 commuters to drive to South Kirkland
P&R. Typical of the council, no one seemed to recognize the total insanity of forcing cross-lake commuters to join the already mile long line of I-90 corridor commuters attempting to get on a crowded I-405 and drive to South Kirkland to get on a bus into Seattle.The ST suggestion they could ride a 520
bus to the University light rail station to connect with Central Link ignores
the fact that, in another example of blatant incompetency, ST chose not to locate a T/C near the UW station, making any transfer "problematic".

Their other general comment was they
intended to use multiple small “Satellite P&Rs” to replace South
Bellevue.No mention was
made of how they intended to route buses to all of these “Satellite P&Rs”
and what that would do to commute times.To be fair Mayor Balducci attempted to get some clarification of these “details”
with vague promises of results. The fact ST has spent millions detailing
station designs that aren’t needed until 2023 but can’t tell commuters where
they will catch a bus in 13 months is another example of their monumental incompetence.

The BCC needs to recognize ST will never have an adequate plan for replacing the P&R. The resulting chaos from closure in 2016 for transit commuters will simply be a precursor to the disruption that awaits the entire area when they close the center roadway in 2017 and begin 6 years devastating the route into Bellevue. All to create a light rail system with the capacity equivalent to a single 74-seat light rail car every two minutes, a far cry from current transit demand, let alone any future growth. It's way past time for the council to end this debacle, rescind the permits.

About Me

My last elective position was class president for 25 “class of ’57” seniors in Armstrong, Iowa. I received an MS in engineering at ISU, worked at Boeing for 36 years before retiring in 1998. My wife and I moved into our current home in Bellevue in 1967 where we raised two daughters. Three years of unsuccessful attempts to persuade BCC to block EL are available on “extended session” meeting minutes. Copies of many were sent to all the media outlets, legislators, and others to no avail. I’m hoping this Web site will convince east side residents to query their own legislators.